Oh Dear, We Bought Our Competitor: Integrating Similar Software Systems

A look at 10 case studies addresses the technological, personnel, and organizational challenges. The 10 cases involved seven organizations in different business sectors. Our data collection methods included our participation in projects, several rounds of interviews with project leaders and software architects, and several rounds of questionnaires with software architects and project managers, as well as project and product documentation. 2 Companies we studied included ABB, Bombardier, Ericsson, Saab, and Westinghouse. However, we can´t disclose detailed information or relate case descriptions to specific companies or systems. Our observations regarding cultural influences might be skewed because all the organizations involved Sweden and other European or North American countries.